frank h writes "I came across this article about the "Street Harassment Project" that also includes a number of responses and commentary by readers. In terms of activism projects, perhaps we could attend one of their "events" and see how "sensitive" they are. I'm convinced that these women need to be educated as to how their mode of dress inflicts harassment on men, and perhaps they ought to be challenged. Since they apparently arm them selves with spray paint, one should be properly attired in protective glasses and disposable clothing, carrying a small amount of paint thinner and cotton balls, and properly armed with pepper spray.

In the right place and at the right time, I certainly do enjoy the female form. But in the workplace, at school, or on the street, scantily-clad women are an annoyance and an unnecessary distraction. Unfortunately, after several hundred thousand years of evolution, I find it difficult to restrict my attentiveness to the "appropriate" moments. I find that ALL of the men with whom I've discussed this, no matter how "prudish" they may be, feel the same way.

It's time to push back, guys. We don't need burkas, but longer, looser skirts and looser sweaters are definitely indicated."

nazgul writes "My wife is a student at the University of South Carolina, in the Women's Studies graduate program. While this leads to no end of, shall we say, "spirited" conversation over dinner, there is very little free discussion in the classrooms she attends. Her seminar course has an actual gag order for dissenting opinions in effect, under the auspices of "Guidelines for Classroom Discussion". The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has accepted the case and is pursuing it now. Please disseminate this story to as many news outlets as possible, and write to the University to correct this injustice. You can read about it at this link."

Well, folks, I'm back, and I'm ready to start making things happen again with Mensactivism.org. I'd like to sincerely thank everyone who took this temporary outage in stride - I didn't receive one angry or impatient e-mail from anyone - and let you all know that my final projects and exams went much, much better than they would have if had I not taken some time off. Now that my life has returned to a reasonable pace, I'm ready to start some new projects for MANN! That's right - due to some strong collaboration between myself and Mike LaSalle from Men's News Daily, I'd like to take advantage of the opportunity to focus MANN more strongly on the activism side of things, and let MND does what it does best, which is to provide news stories and commentary for the movement. Read on for more details about this plan...

It is with deep regret that I must announce a temporary shut down of Mensactivism.org until I can get a handle on my life. In the past month you've certainly noticed that MANN has not been updated or maintained as diligently as it has in the past, and the reason for that is due to a serious level of over-commitment that I put myself into for the first five months of 2002. I'm not going to offer any heartbreaking story about this, I simply made an error of judgment where I thought I could make it through this time crunch but it's just more than I can handle now. I take full responsibility for getting myself into this mess. Right now I must devote as many resources as possible to academics. My last final exam will be on May 17, and once that is done with I expect to be able to resume running this site in a manner it deserves, rather than the half-hearted way it's been limping along for the past month or so.



In the meantime, I'd highly recommend you check out Men's News Daily, a great site run by Mike LaSalle whose news coverage on men's issues is excellent. I even understand he has a web forum for related discussions that was added recently. In any case, I hope this isn't too much of a let-down for people, and I promise this shutdown will only be temporary. The time I'll be spending will be an investment in the amount of time I'll be able to devote to this site over the summer.

This Foster's story offers more details about the outcome of yesterday's Senate vote to establish a Commission on the Status of Men in NH. It includes the final vote broken down by Senator, the last minute attempt to amend the bill to make it a "health and welfare of men" commission, which thankfully failed, and how the commission will be set up. "The commission would consist of seven members appointed by the governor and council, with at least one member invited from the University System of New Hampshire. While the bill does not have any state money, it authorizes the commission to accept donations or grants to further its duties."

crescentluna writes "This article covers how feminists are dissenting in opinion over the Ms. Foundation's incredibly original idea of taking "our sons and daughters to work day." Several different feminist prospectives are here, including the "conservative feminist" view that women's financial disparity lies in their family choices, not in discrimination. Men apparently don't care about the issue."

This I found simply wonderful. What more can I say?

Today, the NH Senate re-voted on HB 587, to establish a state Commission on the Status of Men. The re-vote was required since the bill was modified in the Senate Finance Committee to correct a few formal errors. There was an attempt to amend the bill to change the name of the commission, which failed. The final vote was 18-5 in favor of the bill, a big improvement over the previous 13-10 vote. Next, the bill goes to NH Governor Jeanne Shaheen to be signed into law. I have informal knowledge that she has expressed her willingness to sign the bill. Folks, this is really going to happen! I'm more excited than I can express in words right now...

Here's a bit of good news about the portrayal of men. One of the things that I like about the article is the statement regarding the testing of one ad, "The spot tested well with dads, but it tested even better with moms." This sort of thing must drive the genfems, especially many Women's Studies types, absolutely nuts. Despite decades of "Kill your father" types of indoctrination, many women still see the involvement of men with their children as a positive thing.

Trudy W Schuett writes "There is a new "Heart of the Matter" editorial at the DLJ website, Entitled "What Have They Done with Mother's Day?" it's about the new concept of Mother's Day for women and their daughters. Looks like women with sons no longer count, in a new twist of feminist
'logic.'"

Philalethes writes "Most of the stories posted on MANN document the insanity of our times, but few consider the background: how did we get here, and why? This article is not an in-depth analysis, but it's a good start, and raises some serious questions worth considering: Today men are accountable for their behavior. Women are not. The lack of accountability, seldom clearly recognized, is the bedrock of much of today's feminist misbehavior, influence, and politics."

New Hampshire Representative David Bickford, a sponsor of HB 587, to establish a Commission on the Status of Men, had a superb article printed in Foster's Daily Democrat today, which can be read here. Rep. Bickford outlines many of the problems facing NH men and the institutional bias we've been dealing with for many years. It's an excellent overview of what we've been trying to educate people about in promoting this bill.

jaxom submitted this disturbing story and writes "A federal appelate court ruling allows judges to consider "a woman's
desperation" as a mitigating factor in severe domestic violence.
This case involves an estranged wife using the children as bait; "She
told him her van had broken down, stranding her and their two
daughters, and asked him to pick up the girls."
When he arrives, she starts shooting; "When he got out of his car and
ducked into the bushes, she searched him out with her headlights and
shot him again. She hit him in the head with the gun several times
before he hit her in the face and escaped."
Because a gun was involved, the wife was sentenced to five years. But
for the actual behavior, battery and attempted murder, the wife
received a sentence of ONE DAY.
The U.S. District Judge's decision was based on "her depression and
desperate fear that her husband would take away the children in their
impending divorce.""

As this article reports, in a recent UK court decision, a father lost custody of his children even though he had been the stay at home parent. Rather than considering the actual roles the parents had played in raising the children, in handing down the decision Lord Justice Thorpe stated that the court could not ignore the "realities" of the "very different" traditional functions of men and women. This sends a strong message to prospective and current fathers.

SJones writes "A recent study found that the most popular weedkiller in the United States turns male frogs into female frogs. The effects on humans has not been studied, but amphibians are considered particularly important in that they show effects before mammals. The story is here." I'm sure I'm not alone in being concerned about the fact that a lot of the chemicals used in agriculture today seem to disrupt hormonal balances in living things. Note: According to this Fox News article, the study appears to be junk science.